Culture presentations...

Last week was scheduled for the culture presentations me and my colleagues at the ITAT were working on.  We had to choose a topic from the Irish or American culture and write an 800 word essay on it, make a presentation and a handout. Someone also made a Facebook event for our presentations. The introduction to the event was a short story written by one of my colleagues (I am sorry I don’t know your name otherwise I would have given you credits). The intro is really awesome and it is definitely worth reading!

"Once upon a time the American Eagle accidently bumped into the Irish Leprechaun. The Irish Leprechaun was furious and shouted “You’re so full of yourself! Just because you’re huge, doesn’t mean that you don’t have to pay attention to the small things!” The American Eagle raised his eyebrows in surprise and responded “For a small fairy, you have a big mouth. Don’t you know how important I am, Tinkerbell?”.

Enraged, the Leprechaun shouted “You're going to regret saying that! Ireland is at least as important as America. I will call Fiona and she will teach you that Ireland has more to offer than the US!” “Oh yeah?”, asked the American Eagle. “I know Frank and he will impress you with facts about our awesome country!”

From this day on, Fiona and Frank summoned their SUK-superheroes and superheroines to inform the world the cultural aspects of both countries. Every year, their armies of superheroes gather to tell the world the most interesting stories about Ireland and the US.

Meet these heroes on Wednesday, 19th June and Thursday, 20th June on neutral territory in the ITAT headquarters.“

 I have been to twelve presentations, even though we were only asked to go to ten.  I listened to 9 American and 3 Irish presentations. Here is a short info about every presentation:

1)      Ireland vs. Austria - Whiskey Distilleries - Challenge accepted!

This was the first presentation I listened to. Two distilleries, Jameson Whiskey from Ireland and Waldviertler J.H. from Austria, were compared. Verena told us something more about their history and about the process of making whiskey.

2) American High school & its reputation in Austria

The second presentation I took a look at was from Katie. She was talking about the American and Austrian school system. I decided to listen to this presentation because I myself was going to an American high school for 6 months. Katie was talking about the general reputation of American high schools in Europe, extracurricular activities and peer class. She also compared the teacher-student relationship in Austria and the US. 

3) Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse: how a mouse conquered the world)

Max from my group was talking about Mickey Mouse. I loved his presentation. The idea to play "When you wish upon a star" as the intro to his presentation was simply brilliant. The song has like Mickey Mouse become an icon of The Walt Disney Company, used in the opening sequences of Disney anthology television series and in multiple versions of Walt Disney Pictures' opening logos (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqvF85T4vCg) . You could really see on Max that he liked his topic and that he knew what he was 

talking about. 

4) Reality TV - Jersey shore and beyond

Manueala presented two reality shows to us. She brought the concept of a reality show, especially Jersey shore and Big Brother, closer to us. Manuela also played a short clip from Jersey shore. This gave us the possibility to once again see what kind of idiots these people are.

5) Fort Knox

Patricija talked about Fort Knox. Fort Know is used to refer to the United States Bullion Depository, a building near the military base, which is a vault housing a large percentage of the United States’ gold reserves. It was very interesting to listen how it is protected and how often guards and codes change. What I especially liked was when she talked about the conspiracy theories. Even though we heard a lot about fort know the majority of it still remains a secret.

6) Witchcraft in Ireland

Another Irish presentation that I chose to listen to was about witchcraft. I really find it interesting how people could believe that someone has magical powers or is worshiping the devil or whatever just because someone else told them so. The period of witch hunting can easily be labeled as one of the darkest periods of our history. Hundreds of thousands of innocent women were burned at the stake or hanged. Even more were tortured till admitting they are “witches”. I don’t want to get into the details here but witch hunting and the witch trials are really fascinating, at least for me. I learned more about it in school  while in the US by reading The crucible from Arthur Miller. A movie was made based on the book. I highly recommend watching the movie (the 1996 film). It really shows how a community was dealing with witchcraft back then.

7) Delta Blues

Lejla introduced us to Delta Blues. The Delta blues is one of the earliest styles of blues music. It originated in the Mississippi Delta, a region of the United States that stretches from Memphis, Tennessee in the north to Vicksburg, Mississippi in the south, Helena, Arkansas in the west to the Yazoo River on the east. She mentioned famous musicians and played us their songs. I really liked the last song she played with which she let us go home called „I am going home“.

8) The Integration of Islam in Ireland

Islam was the third choice of mine that was connected to the Irish culture. Alexander was talking about the growth of the Muslim communities in Ireland. He explained us how Catholic and Muslim children go together to school and how that works and told us something about the ICCI (Islamic cultural center of Ireland).

9) Oprah Winfrey: perhaps the most influential woman in America

One of our Spanish Erasmus students admires Oprah; therefore she decided to make a presentation about her. Oprah being one of the most influential women of today inspires hundreds of thousands of people worldwide. She is to be admired for everything she achieved in life considering where she comes from and what her childhood and teenage years were like.

10) Scientology: A Religion Made in America

Harald from Hungary tried to explain scientology to us. Most of us know it only as something Tom Cruise is fanatic about. But Harald told us more about the history of scientology and what they believe in. 

11)  Racial Segregation as depicted in 2 movies

Racial segregation is a big part of American history. Tiana wanted to show us what it was like by talking about two movies, The Help and the secret life of bees. These movies clearly show how hard it was for African American back in those days. Tiana made a great connection to the audience by asking us questions which I think is great.

12) TV shows depicting social issues

Christine informed us about social issues depicting from TV shows. She took 5 very well-known shows and explained on their example what she means. In the end we even got to see a short clip from one of her favorite shows - Breaking bad.

The five presentations I chose for my KGP are:

1) American High school & its reputation in Austria

2) Walt Disney (Mickey Mouse: how a mouse conquered the world)

3) Reality TV - Jersey shore and beyond

4) TV shows depicting social issues

5) Oprah Winfrey: perhaps the most influential woman in America

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."
Nelson Mandela

XOXO A.

:)

Why don’t they read?

I love modern technology. I really enjoy being able to walk around listening to music or have internet connection in almost every place in the world. I think it’s great that my family and friends in Zagreb are only a phone call or Skype video chat away from me. Modern technology has brought us so many good things but it has also made us dumber. And that’s a fact. When I was a kid I remember spending my time by reading books, drawing, riding a bike or playing with other kids on the street. I and my neighbors would play with Barbie dolls and plush toys the whole day and we would never get bored. No matter what we did we always had fun. But when I look at the kids of today I don’t see that. I don’t see girls playing with Barbie dolls or boys chasing the ball on a soccer field. All I really see them doing is playing on their gadgets. Every single one of them owns an iPod, iPhone or iPad. At home there is a Wii, Xbox or PlayStation waiting for them. I see girls dressing up a Barbie doll on the screen of their iPad or boys chasing a ball in a PlayStation video game. What the heck? Can this really be more fun than actually going outside to play with your friends? I don’t know. I really can’t understand the kids of today. Their whole world revolves around their phones and Facebook and how many likes they will get on a picture they post. It’s just sad. They call and text each other constantly even though they are sitting only meters away from each other. I remember us always knowing where our friends are even though we didn’t have cell phones. You could always find your friend either at home or at the playground. What worries me a lot is the fact that I don’t see books. I don’t see books in the hands of the kids. Why? Reading opens up a whole new world to us. It encourages creativity and imagination and takes us to places we have never been before.  Reading from an early age is also important for developing better social and language skills. So why in the name of God are these kids not reading? Probably because their parents don’t have time to read to them and think that buying them a gadget will do it. Little do they know how wrong they are. I really consider myself lucky to have been born and raised in the ‘90s and for my parents to have showed me the importance of reading and socializing. I know that if there is a power outage one day I will now how to entertain and help myself. Can these kids say the same for themselves?

This is what I am talking about! This guy is brilliant!

XOXO A.

Smile - because you can

I am a “follower” on Obama's Facebook page. I like the pictures people that work for him are posting on there. As you can read in my earlier posts I really think that Obama is a good president. He is doing his best. Anyways, I am not here to talk about him but to share this photo with you. My heart melted when I saw this photo. Look at the face of this precious little kid. You know that feeling when you see something cute and just have to scream a little bit? Yeah, that was my reaction too after seeing this photo.   :D

Every day you spend without a smile, is a lost day.

XOXO A.

Saving a life...

I love National Geographic! I am not only talking about the TV channel but also about the magazine. When I am at home I love to switch to NatGeo and watch a good documentary. One of my favorite things to do in my spare time is to buy the NatGeo magazine, make myself a cup of coffee and sit in my garden in the sun to read it. Every issue is unique in its own way. The magazine is full of interesting stories and colorful pictures. Sometimes I catch myself staring at a page with a photo for quite a long time just thinking “How in the name of God did they manage to take such an incredible and powerful photo?” NatGeo chooses a photo of the year every year. I honestly don’t know how they do it because all the photos that come in are so breathtaking. Let’s take this one for example.

In 1987 James Stanfield’s photo of Zbigniew Religa was proclaimed a photo of the year in National Geographic. The photo was taken in Poland. Heart surgeon Dr. Zbigniew Religa keeps watch on a monitor tracking the vital signs of a heart-transplant patient. One of Religa’s colleagues who helped him perform two transplants in an all-night session rests in the corner. The surgery lasted for 23 hours! The patient survived and still lives in Poland. Unfortunately Dr. Religa passed away 2009.

 

Since I was always into medicine this picture kind of made me think. I am really sad that I suck in science so much that I actually can’t be a doctor. Doctors, nurses and other medical stuff are true heroes of today and not top models, soccer players or pop stars. Every kid dreams to be a doctor when they grow up but they lose that wish over time as they see pop stars making a lot of money in no time. Instead of being true heroes they chose to be people that fill covers of magazines by doing nothing. I personally think that being a doctor is one of the most honoring and fulfilling jobs there is. What can be more beautiful than to save a life? This photo is so strong because it shows us all the studying, knowledge and work behind becoming a doctor as well as the beauty of saving a life. I don’t know what else to tell you about this photo because I can’t really put it into words. I am just amazed by it and think that we should all be thankful for people like Dr. Religa. And I also feel very sad because I will never be able to know the feeling you have after you have saved someone’s life. I think I am going to call my cousin and her husband now who are both surgeons to see how they feel after saving a life. :D

“And whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.”

XOXO A.

My kid has more chromosomes than yours!

During my senior year in high school I had to do a presentation on Down syndrome as part of my final grade in biology. Maybe some of you don’t know what Down syndrome is so let me tell you. Down syndrome (DS) or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. Down syndrome is the most common chromosome abnormality in humans. It is typically associated with a delay in cognitive ability (mental retardation, or MR) and physical growth, and a particular set of facial characteristics. In my presentation I was mainly focusing on children with this genetic disorder. In a little place at the Adriatic coast where I have a beach house close to me live two families with children who have Down syndrome. Both of them are girls, Matea and Lucija. Even though I don’t really like kids, Lucija and Matea immediately stole my heart. They are so precious. Both of them have great and strong personalities. Sometimes they can be very stubborn. Down syndrome symptoms vary from person to person and can range from mild to severe. Both of my little neighbors have mild forms which gives them the opportunity to do a lot of activities. In many important ways, children who have Down syndrome are very much the same as other children. They have the same moods and emotions, and they like to learn new things, to play and enjoy life. Lucija and Matea enjoy swimming, dancing, running around and playing other games that children love. This presentation of mine was mostly inspired by them and is definitely one of my best because I truly put my heart and soul into it. I could go on about Down syndrome and how you can tell if your child has it and inform you about all the medical stuff related to it but instead of that I am going to let you read a letter from a mother whose child has Down syndrome. The letter is aimed to other mothers who have just found out that their child has this genetic disorder. This letter made me cry and be thankful once again for being healthy.

Dear mom who just received a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis,

I know how you feel.

Except — unlike you, I was holding my new baby, Kate, in my arms when I found out. She was wrapped in a blanket, looking up at me as I cried, listening to the Neonatologist on staff tell me — only minutes after she was born — that she had Down syndrome. And what that meant.

He said that it meant she had an extra chromosome. And that she would have learning delays. He said that it meant she was significantly predisposed to certain medical conditions, including congenital heart defects — and that we should get her heart tested right away. He said that it meant she had low muscle tone and may not be able to breastfeed. He said that it meant she would do things on a different schedule than other kids.

And in those first few days, after hearing those statistics, talking to doctors and researching online, I thought I knew what it “meant” to have a child with Down syndrome. And quite frankly, I was devastated.

And so it is with you.

But let me tell you — from one mother to another — those facts are not what it means to have a child with Down syndrome.

Many of those facts may not even apply to you. Some might, but many might not. I’ve learned this with all of my children. And I never allow generalizations to set my expectations. (For the record, Kate breastfed like a champ and continues to break stereotypes.)

What those facts didn’t tell me about Kate is that — along with almond eyes and slightly lower muscle tone — she would also have my thick, blond hair and full lips. That she’s a Daddy’s girl. That she loves peanut butter waffles and rocking her baby doll to sleep. They didn’t tell me that she’s a nurturing big sister, a doting little sister — and the star in the room wherever we go.

Those facts didn’t tell me that she would make funny faces and dance like crazy to Fresh Beat Band. That she loves to sing. And swim. And go to gymnastics. And unload all of my kitchen cabinets.

What those facts didn’t tell me in all that they “meant” is what she would mean — to me, to our family, to our friends.

I look back on those first days and I remember the feeling of craving normality. I didn’t want to hear how life would be forever altered in some big way and that I would just learn to accept it. I just wanted life to be the way it was before — routine, “normal.”

Will things ever be normal again? I thought.

And then one day — soon — they were. Except they weren’t like before. They were better.

Suddenly, the overwhelming facts and fears faded. Because instead of knowing a diagnosis, I grew to know her.

And so it will be with you.

Because of her life, I have the unique perspective of seeing the best in the human spirit — and not just in her spirit (though she’s quite spirited!) but in everyone else.

In a world where it’s easy to view strangers through skeptic eyes, I have seen an outpouring of love and compassion surrounding her. I have connected to those I wouldn’t have otherwise. I have had strangers stop me on the street — just to tell me how beautiful she is.

The world can seem like a scary place for any child, especially those with a disability. But I have met so many who just want to love her.

I cannot tell you what challenges your precious one might have — just as I cannot tell you what challenges anybody’s child will have, “special needs” or not. One aspect of your child’s life just happens to be detectable by prenatal medical technology. But prenatal testing cannot tell you who your child will be, anymore than a fuzzy, black and white sonogram can tell you how your child will look.

When Kate was just a few months old, I went to Target to pick up some groceries. In line that day, I met the mom of a 19-year-old man with Down syndrome. And when I shared that my daughter also had Down syndrome, her eyes softened and she held my gaze with a warm smile.

It was as if we were both part of a secret sorority and she was an old pledge member. She asked me a few questions and before leaving, softly said the words that I’ll pass on to you here:

“Welcome to your beautiful journey.”

From my heart to yours,

Lauren

"Although the world is full of suffering, it is full also of the overcoming of it." Hellen Keller

XOXO A.

:)

Good fences make good neighbors?

“Good fences make good neighbors” is a line of the poem Mending wall written by Robert Frost which I came across while reading something on the internet. The poem is about the relationship between neighbors and more generally about the relationship between people. The question is do we have to keep distant from one another and if the answer is yes, what is the distance we have to keep in order to have a good relationship between our neighbors and humans in general?

First thing we have to think about is, is the wall necessary? In the poem we can see that the author didn’t seem to like the wall, but the neighbor seems to prefer it. The advantage of the wall is that we can limit the amount of privacy one can have. The disadvantages of walls are that we unintentionally distance people from ourselves, and in the process we hurt their feelings. 

However and this is coming from the point of view of the speaker, if we don’t build a wall we will give a more comfortable atmosphere which is nice, but on the other hand should we sacrifice our own comfort by reducing the level of our own privacy? By putting up a wall we clearly establish a border between ourselves, and the world around us, between how much we want to give out to the world and how much we want to take in.

To conclude we can say, yes we need to build fences and not walls. Walls between people provide huge gaps and alienate us from one another, while fences provide us with a level of privacy, which is enough for ourselves, and also prevents us from being too intrusive into other people’s lives.

"People have discovered that they can fool the devil; but they can't fool the neighbors."

Francis Bacon

XOXO A.

You are more beautiful than you think!

How often do you check yourself out in the mirror and are not satisfied with what you see?

Every morning the same old story. You wake up and go to the bathroom. It’s time to get ready for the day. You look into the mirror and don’t like what you see. You don’t like the length of your hair and the color of your eyes. You have chubby cheeks and your lips are too thin. Those few extra pounds seem like the end of the world to you. You try not to think about your flaws and get ready. Throughout the day you stop at every mirror on your way to check yourself out again, for the hundredth time this day, just to make sure you look the best you can.

This is how millions of women feel every day around the globe. All of them are struggling with their looks. Women are their own worst beauty critics. According to a recent survey only 4% of women around the world consider themselves beautiful. Isn’t this sad? 

The fashion industry sets bad examples for women, especially young girls. We are faced with top models having measurements 90-60-90. According to famous fashion designers and fashion magazines all women should have those measurements. All we see in runway shows are super thin women with no curves whatsoever. While watching “Germany’s next top model” on Wednesday I got very disappointed. In one scene Heidi Klum came to a young candidate with a measure tape. Note that the girl is only 16 years old! According to Heidi she had 98 cm around her hips when she came into the show and they wanted to see if she had lost those extra 8 cm. Even though she was working out very hard and watched what she was eating she managed to get 3 cm. Of course the jury wasn’t thrilled about it. But my point is, can you imagine something like that being aired on Wednesday evening in a show like that?  How must have girls felt after watching this show? They probably thought how fat they were. All this leads to anorexia and bulimia, two very serious illnesses that literally take lives of young girls. Do we really want our daughters to be growing up in a society like this one?

Dove posted on Monday a three-minute ad on YouTube that teaches a vital lesson about how we view ourselves compared to how others see us.  A former forensic artist met a series of women and asked each to describe the way they look. He had no way of seeing them behind a curtain. He prompted them to detail everything: hair length, facial structure, and their most prominent features. He then sketched each participant from their self-description. Each woman was asked before the study to get to know one of the other participants. The forensic artist then prompted each woman to describe the other's face. At the end of the video, the artist reveals two sketches — one from the participant itself, one from their partner. The differences are remarkable.

I don’t want to spoil the video for you so that’s why I am going to stop writing now. I think it’s a great video, one that has a very strong message. Take a look at it, trust me; it’s worth your time. :)

XOXO A. 

British vs. American

As a kid I thought that English is being spoken the same in the whole world. But soon, during one of my English classes, I learned that that is not true. English is not spoken the same in America, Great Britain, Australia or New Zealand. There are a lot of differences. So as I was researching those differences on the internet I came across this interesting picture. Take a look at it J

XOXO A.

20 quick questions about food!

We were going in class through food questions. Some were general questions about food, some were about breakfast and restaurants or simply about eggs. Our task was to choose one set of questions and blog about them. I chose to answer the general questions about food because they seemed the most interesting to me. Let’s go. :D

1) What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘food’?

2) How often do you think about food?

- All day every day.

3) Can you eat anything?

-Almost anything. I don’t think I could ever eat fried cockroaches, ants or anything similar to that. Oh and the intestines of animals. Or the liver or heart or, I better stop now because I am getting sick.

4)Can you go without food for a whole day?

-I can but the question is why would I want to?

5)Do you have to watch what you eat?

-Unfortunately I do. It’s not so much about what I eat but how much I eat.

6)What is your favourite breakfast, lunch and dinner?

-I don’t eat breakfast. Not only am I not a morning person but I also can’t eat anything in the morning.

-For lunch I LOVE to eat pasta. Pasta is my favorite dish ever!

-For dinner I usually eat a salad. Not only is a salad carb-free but it is also very delicious especially if you shred cheese on it or put cherry tomatoes in it, or maybe tuna.

7)Do you think your country’s food is the best?

- My country’s food is definitely among the best!

8)Do you think “you are what you eat”?

9)What do you think about canned, frozen and processed food?

-I can’t really say that I am a big fan of those but they can come in handy and they don’t even taste bad so I say why not?

10)What kinds of international cuisine do you like?

-I have a lot of fun trying out new cuisines. I love Thai food, Chinese food, Mexican food and Italian food. :D

11) Are you fussy or particular about the food you eat?

-No, I eat pretty much everything.

12)Have your favorite kinds of food changed over the years?

-Not really. I have just been adding more and more favorite dishes to my list. ^^

13)Do you like fast food and slow food?

-I like both. :D

14)What do you think about food additives?

-I don’t like them. If they can be avoided in food then yes please!

15)Do you care where the food you eat comes from?

-I do. I hate seeing that my onion came to Europe all the way from China. Come on, you can’t tell me that we can’t plant onions here in Europe. -.-

16)What national dishes from your country would you recommend to the world?

-Probably „paprenjaci“, „pašticada“, „pršut“, „panceta“, „purica i mlinci“, „sir i vrhnje“, „burek“ and many more!

17)Do you worry about the rising cost of food?

-Of course I do because if this continues people won’t be able to afford their food anymore and what are they supposed to eat then? Sand?

18)Do you think the world’s food will ever run out?

-No, I don’t think that. Even if meat would run out we would still have fruit and vegetables.

19)What do you think of genetically-modified (GM) food?

-I despite it. It tastes awful and it’s not good for our health.

20)Is your food bill big?

-It depends on my mood. :D

XOXO A.

Hello everyone and welcome back! :D

A new semester has started and blogging is one of our tasks again! Some of you may know me from SUK1 but for others, that don’t know me, here’s a short info about me.

Name: Anita

Home town: Zagreb, Croatia

Living in: Graz, Austria

Birth date: 24.12.1993.

College: Karl-Franzens University of Graz (transcultural communication)

What else is there to know about me? Well nothing special, honestly said. I am just an ordinary girl that dreams big and works hard on achieving her dreams.

I enjoy travelling and spending time with my family and friends. Since I moved back to Austria in October I came to realize how lucky I am to have such a great family and wonderful friends. Both my family and friends have been a great support to me since I left Zagreb. I am very thankful on every single member of my family and on my friends. They make me happy. J

I also enjoying shopping (what can I do, I am a typical girl :D), reading, drinking coffee (typically Croatian, I know), listening to music and watching TV.

Another great passion of mine is volunteering. Back when I lived in Zagreb, I volunteered for half a year in an orphanage. The kids there were aged 7-14. My actual task was to help them with their German and English homework but we would always end up playing soccer or dodge ball. Now, that I am not living at home anymore I only volunteer from time to time when I get back to visit. I think that volunteering gave me another perspective on life and the people around me. I realized how blessed I am and also how volunteering is not just about giving but also taking. I don’t care how much time I “lose” on playing with the kids and not being paid for it, the smile on their face when do something together is priceless to me.

My biggest dream is to work as an interpreter for the UN or EU. I am working hard on getting there and who knows, I might really end up there one day. J

Last semester I would end every post with a quote and this semester I am continuing with this tradition. :D

XOXO A. :)